Calorie Deficits and Strength Gains "My own interesting perspective"

[Daddison]

As someone who was a D1 college athlete, "wrestler" and an avid strength and fitness enthusiast I have often struggled with the concept of bulking for mass and cutting for fat reduction. I wrestled Heavy weight all through high school and weighed in right at the 285lb limit consistently. I lived everyday for the purpose of lifting as heavy as possible and consuming as much food as possible. When I got recruited for a D1 program that life style changed drastically. Our cardio was so intense that I shed a lot of the weight I had put on and being in college means you don't have the same access to food you might have had at home. I went from a thick, powerful 6ft1 300lbs to a more fit but less powerful version of my self at 255lbs in a matter of months. I had lost a lot of strength... But in my opinion it did not have to do with a loss of muscle mass but instead a loss of water and glycogen stores in my body. That being said when the season ended I got back up to 270 and was as strong as I ever was despite my calorie deficit. After a couple years of floating around at that weight out of curiosity I attempted to see how lean I could get and still maintain strength. After a few months of maintaining a steady calorie deficit I found my self at 220lbs and had a new affinity for running. 220lbs meant I had 6% body fat according to the sports trainers and a much more healthy body, and strangely enough I had gotten stronger in certain areas than I had been when I was close to 300lbs and much larger, fatter and had more muscle mass. I believe this has to do with the increased level of cardiovascular fitness I achieved from running constantly and from an increase in hip flexibility that led to an increase in my power clean, deadlift, and Back squat. I can not suggest getting leaner to anyone! And although a calorie deficit will not yield muscle mass it can still yield muscular strength and a more efficient better looking body. If you eat right in your deficit you can get freaky strong.

Stats when I was 18 and close to 300lbs.
Bench Press: 485 "I am a talented bench presser"
Back Squat: 575
Dead lift: 605
Powerclean: 242 "Bad I know"

Stats now at 20 and 220-230lbs
Bench Press: 455
Back Squat: 575
Dead lift: 635
Powerclean: 285

As you can see some lifts changed but over all not only am I stronger pound for pound after and extended calorie deficit I am also literally just stronger on a number of lifts. This could have to do with variations in training and simply getting older and more mature but Losing 70lbs typically does not leave one with nearly as much strength! Its all about being responsible in your calorie deficit. You can expect strength even if you don't gain mass.

[Daddison]

As someone who was a D1 college athlete, "wrestler" and an avid strength and fitness enthusiast I have often struggled with the concept of bulking for mass and cutting for fat reduction. I wrestled Heavy weight all through high school and weighed in right at the 285lb limit consistently. I lived everyday for the purpose of lifting as heavy as possible and consuming as much food as possible. When I got recruited for a D1 program that life style changed drastically. Our cardio was so intense that I shed a lot of the weight I had put on and being in college means you don't have the same access to food you might have had at home. I went from a thick, powerful 6ft1 300lbs to a more fit but less powerful version of my self at 255lbs in a matter of months. I had lost a lot of strength... But in my opinion it did not have to do with a loss of muscle mass but instead a loss of water and glycogen stores in my body. That being said when the season ended I got back up to 270 and was as strong as I ever was despite my calorie deficit. After a couple years of floating around at that weight out of curiosity I attempted to see how lean I could get and still maintain strength. After a few months of maintaining a steady calorie deficit I found my self at 220lbs and had a new affinity for running. 220lbs meant I had 6% body fat according to the sports trainers and a much more healthy body, and strangely enough I had gotten stronger in certain areas than I had been when I was close to 300lbs and much larger, fatter and had more muscle mass. I believe this has to do with the increased level of cardiovascular fitness I achieved from running constantly and from an increase in hip flexibility that led to an increase in my power clean, deadlift, and Back squat. I can not suggest getting leaner to anyone! And although a calorie deficit will not yield muscle mass it can still yield muscular strength and a more efficient better looking body. If you eat right in your deficit you can get freaky strong.

Stats when I was 18 and close to 300lbs.
Bench Press: 485 "I am a talented bench presser"
Back Squat: 575
Dead lift: 605
Powerclean: 242 "Bad I know"

Stats now at 20 and 220-230lbs
Bench Press: 455
Back Squat: 575
Dead lift: 635
Powerclean: 285

As you can see some lifts changed but over all not only am I stronger pound for pound after and extended calorie deficit I am also literally just stronger on a number of lifts. This could have to do with variations in training and simply getting older and more mature but Losing 70lbs typically does not leave one with nearly as much strength! Its all about being responsible in your calorie deficit. You can expect strength even if you don't gain mass.

[Futurechamp731]

What's your diet like now an how much cardio are you doing

[Buster Brown]

That's a quite a journey you have been on. I think your stats are much more impressive at a lighter weight then when you were heavier. Your muscles are basically bags of water and your strength will suffer if they are not properly hydrated and your performance will suffer also if your glycogen stores aren't up to snuff. Being a BB training at a calorie def vs a PL are kind of apples and oranges. I am sure you are much more proficient at your lifts and your technique had developed quite a bit since you were younger. If you think about it......if you were training at a certain weight class as a PL the only way to really get better is through improved technique and cycling your training. As I stated above your stats are very impressive but everyone is different and their are a lot of factors involved for example while dieting at a def were you cycling your training so that you were more or less training in maintenance mode and then after a calorie cut phase had been completed train heavy again then repeat cycle? A lot of guys make the mistake of training balls to the wall year round and their lifts actually go down or cease......this is even more evident when they enter into a cutting phase.

[Daddison]

I am eating a little more again to try and put on some mass but I am smarter about it than I was a few years ago when I was in high school eating everything in the world. It is important to be methodical with how much you eat. I am someone who simply counts calories and the calories burned during excerise. I do not count Macros but I try to eat a very balanced diet. I do cardio when I want to, I got in the habit of running so I run quite a bit. I do not believe that if you are putting on mass cardio can stop you as long as you eat a little more! When I wrestled D1 we basically did 3 hours of cardio a day and because I ate so much I was able to maintain a body weight around 255lbs. So I do as much cardio as I want and if I feel like I need to eat more I do

[Daddison]

My training has certainly always been cycled. In season wrestling we only lifted 3 days a week and we wrestled 7 to 8 times a week so there was a much greater emphasis on cardio. I basically only had the spring and summer to but on size and then the fall winter and early spring I would try to maintain. When I made an effort to cut weight it was after the season so I had been in a maintenance mode for a while, this probably allowed me to get stronger during my cut.